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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408026">I can feel the heart of how</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/toastweasel/pseuds/toastweasel'>toastweasel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Universe Alteration, because who needs a love triangle when you ahve polyamory?, not putting pema and lin against each other?, shocking i know!, them both being good partners to tenzin?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:03:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>710</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/toastweasel/pseuds/toastweasel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It had worked well, their little arrangement, but Pema and Lin had never really gotten close. And Lin had certainly never shown any real interest in Pema or the kids.</p><p>...Until now.</p><p>[Poly Pemalinzin AU]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lin Beifong/Pema/Tenzin, Pemlinzin, pemalinzin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>96</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I can feel the heart of how</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was going to go to the store, instead I wrote this. The people responsible know who they are!</p><p>Title from Everything Changes from Waitress. Pemalinzin AU where Lin and Tenzin never break up and instead open up their relationship and probably go to couples therapy like healthy adults.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pema wakes up to the sound of Ikki fussing in the next room, but she doesn’t want to move least she disturb Tenzin, who is asleep beside her with their eldest daughter sprawled across his chest. Jinora is almost four, and has already inherited her husband’s night owl tendencies and Pema’s iron will. It is impossible to get her to sleep at a reasonable hour, so the fact that she is now is a minor miracle that Pema does not want to disrupt for any reason.</p><p>But Ikki keeps fussing, and they are definitely not at the point where they can sleep train her yet. So very begrudgingly, and with exhaustion dogging her every step, Pema oh-so-carefully eases her way out of her warm bed and slips into the nursery…only to find someone already there.</p><p>Lin Beifong has Ikki on her shoulder, one arm cradling the infant as she fusses, while the other supports a thick packet of papers. She’s dressed for bed, Pema observes, but still clearly working; Lin’s reads from the packet as she slowly paces the nursery in bare feet. She hasn’t turned on the light, so the acolyte watches as Lin drifts towards the window to be able to read. She pauses there a second, squinting at something on her page, the silver threads of her commitment chain glimmering in the moonlight along with the streaks of grey appearing in Lin’s hair.</p><p>It’s a soft scene, but not one Pema is used to seeing. Lin usually avoids most contact with the children, saying she’s ‘not good with kids,’ preferring to leave the child-rearing to Pema and Tenzin. But she’s clearly been taking notes; Ikki is calming in her arms, one little fist curling against the strap of Lin’s undershirt, the other wrapping around the thick plait of the metalbender’s nighttime braid.</p><p>Pema watches in sleepy shock as her daughter falls happily asleep against the Chief of Police’s shoulder.</p><p>“Lin?”</p><p>Lin startles a bit, jostling Ikki, who squawks unhappily. Lin looks over at the baby, momentarily panicked, and all but tosses her packet into the rocking chair so she can rub Ikki’s back. Ikki soothes almost immediately, and as Lin turns to face Pema, she gives her a sheepish half-smile.</p><p>“I didn’t know you were awake.”</p><p>“I didn’t know <em>you</em> were awake,” Pema all but accuses, coming into the nursery and sliding the door closed behind her so their voices don’t wake Tenzin. “You should have been in bed hours ago.”</p><p>Pema watches as Lin checks her watch, and one eyebrow arches. “Only just past midnight.”</p><p>“And yet you’re still working.”</p><p>Lin shrugs, unrepentant, and Pema drifts over. Lin pauses her pacing, and Pema reaches up and gently runs her fingers over the tiny brown fuzz that covers Ikki’s tiny head. Ikki, for all of three months old, is notoriously fussy just like her sister, and has been running Tenzin and Pema ragged with her unpredictable sleep schedule.</p><p>“You didn’t have to get her.”</p><p>“I didn’t,” Lin allows, “but you haven’t slept through the night since she was born. I was up anyway.”</p><p>Pema is strangely touched by the gesture. She and Lin share Tenzin, and cohabitate here at the island, but Lin almost never gets involved where she feels she doesn’t belong. The kids are <em>Pema and Tenzin’s thing</em>, not hers, the whole reason Tenzin and Lin opened their relationship up in the first place. Pema respects Lin, admires her strength of conviction and her iron-clad loyalty, but for almost four years Lin had given them space to bond with Jinora while she worked herself to the bone becoming Chief. It had worked well, their little arrangement, but Pema and Lin had never really gotten close. And Lin had certainly never shown any real interest in Pema or the kids.</p><p>Until now.</p><p>Now it’s past midnight, and Lin is cradling Ikki in the nursery so Pema can get some sleep.</p><p>The acolyte feels a rush of emotion and buffs a hand over Lin’s deltoid, giving her arm a gentle but grateful squeeze. “Thank you.”</p><p>Lin shrugs again, clearly embarrassed, but the look in her eyes is a soft one. She adjusts Ikki more firmly in her arms and gravels out a quiet, “Don’t mention it.”</p>
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